 clickable | | Jesus Conquers Death In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus dies before he dies, and thereby readies himself for what awaits him. The next day, when Pilate threatens him with death, Jesus stands in a freedom and courage that can be understood only if we understand what happened to him in the garden. When Pilate says to him: "Don't you know that I have power over you, power to take your life or to save it?" Jesus answers: "You have no power over me whatsoever. Nobody takes my life; I give it over freely." Pilate is threatening a man who is already dead. No big threat. Jesus had already undergone the agonia. In great anguish, he had given his life over freely the night before, and so he is ready for whatever awaits him. —from the book The Passion and the Cross |  clickable: The Following is from MorningOffering | †Quote
"We are born to love, we live to love, and we will die to love still more."
— St. Joseph Cafasso † MEDITATION OF THE DAY
"Knock. Persevere in knocking, even to the point of rudeness, if that were possible. There is a way of forcing God and wresting his graces from him, and that way is to ask continually with a firm faith. We must think, with the Gospel: 'Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you,' which he then repeats by saying, 'Everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened' (Luke 11:9-10). We must, therefore, pray during the day, pray at night, and pray every time we rise. Even though God seems either not to hear us or even to reject us, we must continually knock, expecting all things from God but nevertheless also acting ourselves. We must not only ask as though God must do everything himself; we must also make our own effort to act according to his will and with the help of his grace, as all things are done with his support. We must never forget that it is always God who provides; to think thus is the very foundation of humility."
— Bishop Jacques-Benigne Bossuet, p.35
AN EXCERPT FROM
Meditations for Lent † VERSE OF THE DAY
"If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing."
1 Corinthians 13: 1-3 |  click to read more | | ST. EUPHRASIA St. Euphrasia (380-410 A.D.) was the only child of noble Christian parents serving the court of the Christian Emperor Theodosius I, their relative, in Constantinople. After her birth her parents vowed to remain celibate in order to commit their lives fully to prayer and penance. Her father died soon after, and Euphrasia moved with her mother to Egypt near a large monastery of nuns. At the age of seven Euphrasia vowed her virginity to Christ and desired to join the monastery. Her mother gladly presented her to the abbess, and then died soon after. When the Emperor heard of her mother's death, he sought out Euphrasia for an arranged marriage. Euphrasia denied the offer due to her vow, and requested that her large estate be sold with the money given to the poor, and all her slaves freed. The Emperor was greatly pleased with her chosen course in life, and did all that she asked. As a nun Euphrasia did great penances. In order to resist temptations to sin, she would perform difficult manual labor, often lifting heavy stones and moving them from one place to another for days on end, and other such drudgery. She was known to perform miracles both before and after her death at the age of thirty. Her feast day is March 13th. | Wednesday of the First Week in Lent Reading 1 Jon 3:1-10 The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:
"Set out for the great city of Nineveh,
and announce to it the message that I will tell you."
So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh,
according to the LORD's bidding.
Now Nineveh was an enormously large city;
it took three days to go through it.
Jonah began his journey through the city,
and had gone but a single day's walk announcing,
"Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,"
when the people of Nineveh believed God;
they proclaimed a fast
and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth. When the news reached the king of Nineveh,
he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe,
covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in the ashes.
Then he had this proclaimed throughout Nineveh,
by decree of the king and his nobles:
"Neither man nor beast, neither cattle nor sheep,
shall taste anything;
they shall not eat, nor shall they drink water.
Man and beast shall be covered with sackcloth and call loudly to God;
every man shall turn from his evil way
and from the violence he has in hand.
Who knows, God may relent and forgive, and withhold his blazing wrath,
so that we shall not perish."
When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way,
he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them;
he did not carry it out. Responsorial Psalm Ps 51:3-4, 12-13, 18-19
R. (19b) A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.
R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
For you are not pleased with sacrifices;
should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn. Verse Before the Gospel Jl 2:12-13 Even now, says the LORD,
return to me with your whole heart
for I am gracious and merciful. Gospel Lk 11:29-32 While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them,
"This generation is an evil generation;
it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it,
except the sign of Jonah.
Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites,
so will the Son of Man be to this generation.
At the judgment
the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation
and she will condemn them,
because she came from the ends of the earth
to hear the wisdom of Solomon,
and there is something greater than Solomon here.
At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation
and condemn it,
because at the preaching of Jonah they repented,
and there is something greater than Jonah here."
| Meditation: Jonah 3:1-10 1st Week of Lent The people of Nineveh believed God. (Jonah 3:5) Think of a time when you heard someone give a compelling speech. Did their words move you to go change the way you were living? Maybe the experience was so powerful that you began telling your neighbors about it and encouraging them to make similar changes. This is what happened in the story of the prophet Jonah. It should have taken him three days to spread God's message throughout the city of Nineveh, but the people who heard his word on the first day told everyone they knew, and the message traveled with lightning speed. Within twenty-four hours, the entire city had turned back to God! There's an old saying that a lie can get halfway around the world before the truth even gets its shoes on. And to a degree, that's true. Think of the power of gossip from neighbors or propaganda from corrupt government officials. There's something tantalizing about these tales, and people can't help themselves; they just have to spread it. Truth, on the other hand, doesn't usually move so quickly—at least not the kind of truth referred to in this saying. That's because it can confront us, and it often involves something we have to do, some decision or change we have to make. Lies and gossip are just juicy stories that don't demand much from us, just a willingness to keep discussing them. That's what makes the story of Jonah even more astounding. In record time, the truth of God's love—and his call to repentance—flew all over the city. And the message, challenging though it was, turned people's hearts toward the Lord in repentance. The lies of Nineveh's false gods didn't stand a chance against the truth of who God really is. This is the glory of the Christian message—and you are one of God's messengers. Your witness has more impact than you may think. Your words, especially when shared in gentleness and love, plant seeds of the gospel in people's hearts. Your actions, especially when done in a spirit of self-giving generosity, stay in people's memories. You may think they're insignificant, but God is using you to help people see him and know him. Yes, even you! "Holy Spirit, give me the confidence to share your good news today." |  clickable | Claim nothing for yourself, think of others kindly and with admiration; that is the height of wisdom, and its masterpiece. Never think yourself better than the next man, however glaring his faults, however grievous his offences; you are in good dispositions now, but how long will they last? Tell yourself, 'We are frail, all of us, but none so frail as I.'
—Thomas á Kempis
from The Imitation of Christ | 2cents:
Jonah called for repentance and the king said "Who knows, God may relent and forgive, and withhold his blazing wrath,
so that we shall not perish." He went for it. He repented and commanded all to repent. And God was pleased. God relented. God forgave. He withheld His wrath. They were not destroyed. It took Jonah 3 days in the belly, in darkness, to come to life and to give the message of repentance. What's amazing about the story? They believed. | Let us pray: "For you are not pleased with sacrifices; should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it. My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit; a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn." Lent is our Jonah time. A time to repent. A time to let the world know to repent. If I let my kids tell me what to do, life will become Sodom And Gomorrah. Such are the times we live in with sodomy trying to rule the world. We need Jonah. We need a turning away. We need purity. We need chastity. All things that are always contrary to the world, the flesh....our very selves. Then the human appears, meek and humble, the very Son of Man. | In the Holy Gospel, our Lord speaks ""This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it..." but then, He does say "except the sign of Jonah." A sign for an evil generation. REPENT. It's not a stop sign. It's a sign with a U-turn. Your turn to turn around. The way you were headed was the way to damnation, for you and the ones around you. | And then our Lord speaks about judgement days. People that HAD repented and became saints, now they were those that would condemn. And condemning evil is good. Recognizing evil is good. The first step in a 12 step program is realizing the problem. Now you can move forward. What is your problem....with your relationship with our Lord? Well, you who are reading this are doing well, seeking His will and answers, but we do have a real problem. There are two things I woke up thinking and praying on.
☝1 I believe of all my years in life in the Church and ministries, I've been nothing but a fake. More on that later.
✌ 2 Where are the prophets of our day? Have they gone silent? More on that today. ☞1:
Back to the faker, yours truly, and I have to use personal witness to convey the message. I have been fighting an inner battle that I just can't seem to win. It's like Christ wants to live out in me and I will not let Him. I present a Christian face but I do not allow Him to live truly in my life. I present a Christian message, but I struggle internally with Christ's desire. Don't know what I mean? I mean, I don't have a heart for Love as God's love is. I have seen His love but I can not achieve that degree of love/humility. I have experienced His awesomeness and mercy, but I can not be mercy many times, just by the way I talk and think. Maybe this will help a little bit this lent, from DynamicCatholic.com today 5 things we can try:
☛Don't eat what you want.
☛Give something away—every day.
☛Don't interrupt people.
☛Stop complaining.
☛Don't waste downtime. ✌ And the prophets? Where did they go? They are out there. I promise. They are prophesying. God will not stop speaking. But let me tell you how these prophets are silent: we put them on silent. They call for you, they call you, they text you, they are on the internet, they are at Church. But we put them on silent. We do not tune into them...for truth. Let me give you an example on how I see it work. Last night we had a Tornado Warning in our town. I heard the rain, and we had some hail, and things felt Ok, electricity running, kids on their games and tablets, they inquired me on what I thought about the tornado. I was tuning in, looking for news and updates, listening to the thunder. I told them we don't know, but we must be tuned in. My little rowdy boy was praying and looking out the windows, never seen him so serious. Suddenly, an emergency warning comes on my phone and immediately, without even finishing reading it, once I read "Take Shelter Now", I told everyone to get up and head to the basement. Some of my kids were shaking and crying. We gathered, I went back for covers and candles. We gathered and we prayed, and they seemed to calm down. Our neighbor family came in minutes later. In conversation, the neighbor said she didn't really want to come, and they laughed on how she had gone back for her tea. The storm passed. Another person this morning said he was called by another to come to his basement. He said he didn't feel like going, and said he had prayed about going or not. Another man said this morning that his wife was anxious about taking shelter in their basement. He said for her to be quiet and go to sleep. He said he was too tired and angry. I asked if he took shelter and he said no. "Let what will be done be done!". Who would you have been in this story? The ones who took the message seriously? Like the King in Jonah's story and give God the benefit of the doubt?
Or would you be those who don't move?
Did a tornado touch? They said someone's roof was tore off. What is the warning message of today?
Repent and believe.
This is a call to action.
Faith in Action.
And Faith is in love. Why should we repent? Because, we are in this together. You matter. I matter. What you do and say matters, and what else? Your thoughts matter to God. What if I told you something ridiculous, like "you will be judged for your thoughts"? Many theologians could debate what I just said. But that is the wellspring that follows the heart.
God desires holiness. Things that we don't want.
He desires what we do not want, a whole life with and for Him.
Have you messed up this lent already? Repent.
Have you messed up this year already? Repent. Offer it up.
Have you messed up your life? Repent, now is the appropriate time.
Repent and be live. Be alive. Let the world know something that hit me this morning: "You can not be more joyful in the world, than I am in the Lord". |  click to hear the bible verse | adrian Random Bible Verse1
Ephesians 1:13-14 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee [1] of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, [2] to the praise of his glory. Thank You Jesus | |
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